As the official spokesperson for the company, if Musk says it's "housing", then housing is the official reason.
It may not be the real reason (which probably has more to do with his feelings about California in general and maybe proximity to SpaceX's Texas facilities), but it's the official reason.
That's temporary and the company has to look at things long term. Austin doesn't have the geographical barriers that the Bay Area has. If the building supplies and labor are available, Austin can sprawl out in pretty much any direction, though obviously transportation eventually becomes an issue.
Compared to the Peninsula, Austin is basically free. Median home price in Austin is $575,000. Median home price in Palo Alto, where the current Tesla HQ is, is $3,488,610.
Levandowski says that like other religions, WOTF will eventually have a gospel (called The Manual), a liturgy, and probably a physical place of worship. None of these has yet been developed. Though the church was founded in 2015, as Backchannel first reported in September, the IRS documents show that WOTF remained dormant throughout 2015 and 2016, with no activities, assets, revenue, or expenses.
The religion’s 2017 budget, as supplied to the IRS, details $20,000 in gifts, $1,500 in membership fees, and $20,000 in other revenue. That last figure is the amount WOTF expects to earn from fees charged for lectures and speaking engagements, as well as the sale of publications. Levandowski, who earned at least $120 million from his time at Google and many millions more selling the self-driving truck firm Otto to Uber, will initially support WOTF personally. However, the church will solicit other donations by direct mail and email, seek personal donations from individuals, and try to win grants from private foundations.
https://www.wired.com/story/anthony-levandowski-artificial-i...
Sometimes I think people in the Valley don't realize they live in a microcosm. I had never heard of Chris Sacca before Shark Tank, and I've raised venture capital in the Bay Area before.
I had never heard of Shark Tank, or any of the people mentioned so far in this thread until I stumbled upon a mispost somewhere on Hacker News. I don't get why people would watch that. The investors came off as idiots.
Hadn't heard of it either. Sounds like a very greedy guy that just has to blog about his trials and tribulations, and explain just how his greed is actually "drive" and "working hard". This VC kowtowing is sickening.
